Brad is a native Memphian and has been active in the community throughout his life, culminating in his involvement in the 2004 presidential campaign for Howard Dean. This in turn led to his efforts to turn the local Democratic party back toward its progressive base; from 2005 to 2006 he sat on the Executive Committee of the Shelby County Democratic Party. He was a long-time volunteer with the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center when he worked on the Memphis Living Wage Campaign, the Coalition Against Private Prisons and the campaign to end the war in Iraq. Watkins is now convinced that true positive social change can only come from the community itself and that the progressive movement must be committed to the task of organizing with those who are directly affected by injustice. In 2008 Watkins was accepted into the D.C.-based Center for Community Change’s GenChange program as a fellow and oversaw CCC and MSPJC GOTV efforts in four low-income, low voter turnout communities of color in the 2008 local elections. Watkins joined the staff of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center in December of 2008 and since then has overseen the Center’s programs and campaign efforts on homelessness, blight, foreclosure, the Neighborhood Alliance, criminal justice reform and electoral organizing. He became Executive Director in 2014.

Objectives:

1.Increase awareness on facts regarding population due to homelessness in Memphis and surrounding communities